Nick Levenson breaks school record at State Pentathlon

Silver Lake track and field star Nick Levenson showed his true athletic versatility when he recently set the school’s record for total points in the 18th annual State High School Indoor Pentathlon held at the Reggie Lewis Center last week.

Silver Lake track and field star Nick Levenson showed his true athletic versatility when he recently set the school’s record for total points in the 18th annual State High School Indoor Pentathlon held at the Reggie Lewis Center last week.

The senior captain finished 24th overall with 2,823 points, which surpassed the old Silver Lake record of 2,667 set by Pat Saccone in 2001. Teammate Mitch Vaughn joined Levenson at the event, finishing 53rd with 2,514 points.

“He deserves all the credit he’s getting now,” Silver Lake head coach Gary Moore said of Levenson, who competed for the Lakers all four years and led the squad in points this season with 70.17, at least 24 points more than any other teammate.

“He’s a very well-rounded athlete and doing that well in the pentathlon is further proof of that,” Moore said. “Nick doesn’t usually get as much credit as he should during the regular season, because he competes in the really difficult events against the best athletes in the Patriot League so it doesn’t get noticed as much.”

The pentathlon consists of five track and field events: the 55-meter hurdles, the high jump, the long jump, the shot put, and the 1,000 meter run.

Levenson finished 24th among 115 competitors at last week’s event. He ran the 55 hurdles in 8.49 seconds. He leapt 5 feet, 7.75 inches in the high jump. In the long jump, his leap measured 18 feet, 2.25 inches. He threw the shot put 28 feet, 11 inches, and finished the 1,000 meters in 3:03.

“It really gives you a sense of Nick’s versatility,” Moore said. “He’s quite an athlete. For Nick to surpass the school’s record, that’s impressive, because Patrick was one of the better athletes in our program in recent years.”

At Silver Lake, Levenson, who was named a Patriot League All-Star this winter, is known mostly for competing in the hurdles, the long and high jumps, and the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays.

To compete in the pentathlon, he had to work extra hard at the shot put and the 1,000 run.

“Knowing that I’ve done most of the events, I thought it would be fun to put them all together and see what I could do,” said Levenson.

It wasn’t easy, especially in the winter, when Levenson had little chance to practice the shot put outdoors because of all the bad weather.

“I used the medicine ball indoors, which is lighter, but I was still able to work on my form,” Levenson said.

During school vacation in February, Levenson ran around the gymnasium floor sidelines or in the vacant school hallways to prepare for the 1,000 meters.

The efforts exemplified how Levenson competed all through his high school career.

“He worked his craft,” Moore said. For four years, he really worked at it.”